Cat Burrito

When I was 20, I joined a band where everyone had stage names. I was told I had to have one so I just kept my first name and used my middle name as my surname. After that band, I vowed to use my real name and have done for the last 30yrs+. My middle name is James and I thought with Brian James, Tony James, Steve James, Wendy James etc, it was suitably rock n roll sounding. Changing my first name always seemed silly as I have never had a nickname or really been called by my surname so always wanted just to be known by my first name.

I do the majority of the onstage banter in my duo. I have always had a quick wit and as our music is definitely darker in tone, it lifts the mood. I worked with a singer a few years ago who was naturally effortless at this onstage (not so good without a mic, ironically) and I learned a lot from working with him. The best line from our last show was as we finished the set, our backing track started up again. I stopped it and said down the mic, “So sorry, you’d not asked for an encore!” I think it is a difficult balance between not being too full of yourself, not putting your act down, not going on too much but keeping people entertained. I think I usually get it about right but don’t sweat it too much if I don’t.

We normally practice on a Friday after work in our self christened “Bela Lugosi’s Shed”, but due to a child related commitment, pushed back until Saturday. This meant promotion to Nick’s house as the whole family were out. We demoed two tracks for the new album and worked up a song idea of mine. Nice to bust out my big board in what was generally a very productive day.

I had one and used it for years. It was during my time playing on the Americana circuit, as well as doing a bit of old school rock 'n' roll. In fact, I seem to remember I used it in a CCR tribute band too. It held up against the loudest drummer & guitarist that I have ever worked with. In the Americana band I tended to be on volume 2 1/2 and coming through nicely and with the louder guys I was nearer volume 5 or 6. I tended to put Fender basses through it and run it through the matching PF cab (the 4x10, 2x10 or 1x15 at different times). Plenty of old school thumb. It's heavy for what it is but because it is small, it is light - if that makes any sense!?! I sold mine on here a few years back and mine would have been when they first came out. Looking at my Basschat pics, I must have had it for years as this was around 2018 so I must have run it for a good 4yrs.

A double whammy of a weekend in the first half of October. We’re coming to Frome before returning to our new adopted home town the next day.

We opened the Swindon Shuffle’s Friday Night at The Castle in Old Town last night. Arriving in good time to see the headliner’s soundcheck, I was immediately taken by the bassists sound. Very dubby. He had his back to me and when he turned around, he was playing with a pick, right up by the bridge! It was a Genz Benz amp and every time I hear one of those, they sound fantastic. We were the first of five bands and I think were given this slot as we’re just a duo. I would be too polite to argue but a few people suggested we should have been higher up the bill. In many respects though, it was one of the better slots. I had my 2008 USA Fender Jazz that was going through my board. Doing as the soundman wanted, he had me go through the Genz Benz amp and it sounded great. We did an all original set with the keys / drums on the iPad. Some soundmen struggle, with this set up but the guy last night clearly knew his way around the desk and the sound both on and off stage was glorious. We let the music do the talking but still had a bit of banter with the audience. We held the audience throughout our 30 minute set, something some of the other acts didn’t manage. Introducing two new songs and a few favourites, the time flew. At the end, I thanked everyone, only for the track to loop and start up again. I quickly stopped it and said “So sorry, you didn’t ask for an encore!” which I think endeared us further. I thought we played well. My lead vocals (I am not the main singer) are definitely gaining confidence and I am falling in love with my Jazz bass all over. A great night.

We're kicking things off at The Castle in Old Town, Swindon this Friday, as part of the Swindon Shuffle.

With my main duo, I am very heavily involved, from booking / organising through to choosing the majority of covers and co-writing music together. I think all the lead tracks / singles have started from me. Aside suggesting lyrical themes, I let Nick do the lyrics as it's definitely his area. I think we both acknowledge that it is all very much a partnership. I think we both bring something to the band that the other one can't and are hugely respectful of one another. Oh, and I run the social media too. My other band, I co-produced the debut record but now we're on album #2, I just write my bass parts and show up when asked. I practice my parts prior to getting together but my involvement is a fraction of what it is for my main venture. I think we value everyone's contribution and I have worked with them since 2016.

Back with an enhanced version of Deadlight Dance yesterday, and once again we were joined by our drummer from our Sixth Form band, Mike. This was for a street party in the road my band mate lives in. I had my trusty long scale Hofner Verythin bass but was mixing it up with several on the Gold Tone (AKA Goth Tone) Mandocello and even a couple on guitar and a couple on mandolin. I was going through my Boss BCB60 with the Boss IR2 at the end of the chain. I was telling the story of how we filmed our zombie apocalypse video in this very road, in a very light hearted way - see Infectious for details - when that Government text alert went off! You couldn’t make it up and it was a genuine comedy moment. We played well. We picked up some travelling fans from the last gig and even sold a few CDs. It was also an absolute pleasure to hang out with two of my oldest friends.

Saturday night was a trip to London to play the legendary What's Cookin', for my friend Rich Davies and his band The Dissidents. I've been part of the band since 2016 and we have kept the same lineup throughout. They are all insanely good players and I like the fact that this keeps me on my toes. We had one rehearsal and I spent the week going through the set at home as we don't play live often and Rich had changed some keys of songs. I'd initally thought of bringing my Rickenbacker but midweek decided to change to my long scale Hofner Verythin bass. Rich wanted me to bring my Blackstar rig but I hate London load ins so when I found out there was a house rig, I was happy to use that. Having travelled up with the keyboard player, we arrived in good time, only to find out our drummer was not so fortunate. We wound up sound checking without him whilst a kit sharing support band quietly twitched! Thankfully he arrived and we got all set up. The nice thing was I had a bunch of old mates show up, including a singer I worked with for 10yrs, a roadie from a previous band and the guy who does the videos in my main band. We went on and just killed it. Due to the tube strike, the venue was quieter than usual but respectably half full and all eyes were on the band. Props to the support act who danced at the back throughout our set. The downside was that an accident on the M25 meant I got in at 3.15am but it was a superb evening.

We’ve let this run for 10 pages with the majority of posts being respectful but it’s clear from reading through and looking at our reported posts that this has now run its course.

I agree. To be clear, I was referring to everything online, not just social media. It stands to reason that if someone only watches GB News or only reads the Guardian, they are getting that one perspective. Whilst I am sure that most intelligent people get their information from a range of sources, there are plenty that only get fed stuff from Facebook or the Daily Mail.

I'm not ignoring the original post but I do worry that with algorithms, we are fed our own narrative and this has in some way contributed to a huge divide amongst people. I have friends who hold the polar opposite of my views and I genuinely value the banter we have. In terms of somebody being racist, sexist, homophobic (& I would add prejudice against the disabled), I couldn't be in a group with them. Especially as extreme views often come with the "everyone is entitled to my opinion" view. Given the lyrical themes of my originals band, I think it's unlikely those sorts of people would be knocking down the door to work with me. I have made music with people who vote very differently to me and I have focused on the overall person, their musicianship, enthusiasm, passion and whether they are good company. Generally though, most of my band mates seem to hold similar views to me.

What a fantastic collection of basses you have!

I recommend getting a Powerball, which you can get from Amazon. I had some problems early on and it was a good way of improving my strength. Obviously, I would advise seeking medical advice too but the Powerball really helped.

We don't allow What's it worth threads so they get pulled. They get a friendly message explaining why.

I do two very different types of gigs so I'm going to give two different answers (assume playing well is a given) - Local - Good crowd, getting paid so we can invest back into the band, happy for us to do the sound (unless there is an engineer who is used to bands that don't just do the traditional formats), not going to bed too late. National / International - No big egos from other bands / promoter / my band(!) etc, decent stage / sound, proper rider that follows the simple instructions (although I am a professional so I rise above it!), decent crowd, shift a load of merchandise, quiet hotel. I must confess that since hitting 50 a couple of years back, I am deliberately doing more of the former as the later seems to struggle ticking some of those boxes! I'm definitely more selective with age.

I did this for a few years, mainly on the Americana circuit. I then took my Jazz out for a multi-(rock) band all dayer in Sheffield and confused the soundman - he couldn't work put why my bass sounded the way it did! 😸 I think all the other bassists were active 5-string players and I had that setup.

Ultimately, it is hard to control how others view you. I've left bands where seemingly nice people have got funny when I have tried to step back. I've offered to stick around and even go through parts with the replacement, which I would say is pretty decent of me, and still had a couple of people get funny. The last lot were completely reasonable though. It's certainly easier when there isn't a busy schedule. Nobody likes being told that they could be better so a small white lie about work getting busier and how you don't want to let them down sometimes works as a softener. Best of luck, however you choose to do it.

I was rounds for the first ten years of my playing as I didn't know any other way. In the late 90s, I moved to flats. I stayed with them until 2019 and currently have a mix. I surprise myself in mainly having rounds these days but have Labella flats on my bass IV and an acoustic bass. I guess it depends on the song and the style, as well as the bass.

I know it's a bit more but I have the Blackstar Unity 30 as I wanted it to be closer to my U700 but at home volume. That's a great practice amp but I wouldn't want to lessen the features. I don't remember Debut, unlike some of you.

Another reunion with our original drummer from our first band. Street parties always fill me with terror but this one was quite good last time, so I hope the Wicker Man reference doesn't upset anyone.

I did a thread on it a couple of years back. I love the tone of Jazz basses and I love the look but I definitely noticed a drop in low end frequency when playing in small bands with this one. I've had it since 2015 and usually play a range of different basses, from Precision to Rickenbacker to Hofner to Thunderbird. We never did get to the bottom of whether it was me, my settings, my bass, the pickups or something else. Coincidentally there was a younger band on after us and the bass player had a Fender Jazz which had no bottom end too - far worse than mine. The first Jazz bass I owned had different string volumes so I sold that on but I have had a couple of good ones in-between. I bet the Maruszczyk sounds good as I think it's some of the Fender ones that can be a bit of a mixed bag. Anyhow, it sounded good last night so hopefully the problem is solved.